What are Ghana romance scammers?

The U.S. Embassy in Ghana explains that romance scammers are con-artists who access the Internet to manipulate the emotions of unsuspecting people by faking romantic feelings, then requesting financial assistance. They often claim to have recently started working in Ghana and ask victims to send money or cash a check.

Many times, a romance scammer claims to be from his victim's area in an attempt to relate and appear more approachable. A Yahoo! group entitled Romance Scams is a community of Web users who have been cheated by these cyber-criminals or who simply wish to provide support to victims and preventative information to potential victims. The group also hosts a collection of recycled photographs often used by Ghana romance scammers to help group members identify a potential scam before it is too late.